Yes, Arthur, there is another stout. Our Irish-style "dry" stout is brewed with four different malts, roasted barley and Chinook hops. It is big, bold, smooth & tasty, and we think it's the best thing on either side of St. James Gate.

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by rudzud:

Picked up a bottle of this while at the brewery. Poured into my Duvel tulip.

A - Pours a nice dark oily black with a rich two finger head that slowly fades leaving nice amounts of side lacing and a thick film on the brew.

S - Good roasted coffee notes as well as some light chocolate. Some very faint hops too.

T - Similar to this nose the flavours are all quite smooth together. Starts a little roasty and bitter coffee notes that fade to your usual coffee and qualities with some light hop finish. Very, very light.

M - Quite thin like this style is. Ever slightly creamy too.

O - Overall this is quite the irish dry stout. Nice and creamy, really good appearance and smell. A solid brew from Portsmouth.

More User Reviews:

My wife actually had this offering before I had a chance to try it and she even liked this one,pours a pitch black with a great creamy,sticky head.Aroma is roasted to the hilt along with some sweetend chocolate hints.Taste is roasted malt and chocolate with a marshmellow quality about it,a very enjoyable beer to savor the different flavors of this one.

Can't believe, in all my trips to this place, that I've never tried this beer. It's really nice, what I'd consider an unstoutlike stout. It's dark brown, almost black, with a sticky, coffee-colored head. It has a roasted grain/coffee aroma. Taste of coffee and chocolate, but pretty smooth, like there's some cream in it. Very enjoyable, drinkable beer.

Taste - Again with the coffee and chocolate. Actually this is pretty tasty even though its pretty common. The only difference I taste is that its a touch milky which is very nice. Hops are only somewhat part of the taste. A little bitterness from said hops.

Mouthfeel - A medium bodied stout with a nice creamy finish.

Drinkability - This beer is very drinkable @4.5%. I could suck down a couple of these at the pub or at home watching a game. Nice work portsmouth.

Tap @ the Brewery. A little thin for my tastes, though it could be because I had it alongside the Portsmouth Kate. Black pour with no head. Lighter aroma of caramel and roasted malt. More chocolate and sweetness than expected. Good hop bite in the back. Very good.

Pours a jet black with a smallish tan head. The smell is pungent with coffee,chocolate,and roasted malt. The taste has a full flavor with roasted malt,coffee,and chocolate. A pretty good tasting stout. The m/f is light with all the flavors mixing well. A very good stout from a very good brewery.

Oakes bottle. Damn good for its style this one. The smell of chocolate. A bit of smoke, lighter mouthfeel. Quite nice. Chocolate and roasty flavour held up well enough after room temperature that I finished another good sized sample then. Black, nothing special on head.

M: Medium bodied and lightly carbonated. Smooth, silky, and oily in the mouth. Just perfect. Rich and robust on the palate and going down. Finish is subtle and aftertaste doesn't really linger.

D: I recall having this at Kate Day earlier this year and really enjoying it. However, revisiting it in bottle form has been a revelation. This is another very solid beer from Portsmouth. Feel is perfect and drinks much bigger than its ABV suggests. Really good and worth seeking out.

So I am in New Hampshire for the Great Bay Half Marathon...its the night before a race and ....why not drink some....ok....alot of the local beer!!! Here Kitty kitty kitty....The Black Cat stout from Portsmouth is good. This beer has was dark/black in color with thin ecru head and great lace. The smell has a subtle roast coffee nose. The smell funnels into the taste of this beer. The reasonable ABV leads to this beer being a Session...certainly worth a taste.

Dark enough to block out the sun. Robust taste, chocolate and malty. The brewery tells me they will never bottle this, so the only way to experience it is on draft, which is ok by me. My favorite stout.

On nitro-tap @ the Portsmouth Brewery (Portsmouth, NH) on 3/13/11. Served in a pint glass.

Pours a flat black in the glass, with ½ finger of creamy mocha colored head. This maintains a rich frothiness to it, ringing the sides of the glass with robust creamy lacing. The aroma has a nice moderate fullness here to it, with notes of cocoa, coffee, and ripe citric fruit. Going deeper reveals some additional a sweeter caramel flavor and a fresh leafy hops. This is nice.

The taste is also fairly rich with chocolate, dark roast, and bitter citric hops. Those fruitier flavors sit with a touch of boldness across the back of the palate. Overall, this feels drier with bitterness than actual roast but you do get some light dark accents from the malts which hang on the tongue. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a pleasant smooth crispness to it that has also has a touch of a chewier feel underneath. This feels about right for a 5-6% Stout.

While this didn't quite come off as a traditional Dry Irish Stout to me, this definitely packed some quality full flavors and a well balanced feel into its easy drinking sub 6% package. I could have easily had a couple of these. I believe that this is usually their staple dark beer here and it's a good one to have around.

Originally reviewed May 29, 2005. On tap at the brewpub. Light roasted coffee aroma. Deep balck with a super creamy deep tan head. Fresh sea salt flavors, with some very chocolate and coffee tones. Finish is smooth and creamy, like a drop of sweetened condensed milk in a teaspoon of fresh espresso. Very nice! A little oaky on the back end, with some complex depth in raisins, cinnamon and lots of chocolate, coffee and rum.

Had the chance to stop by Portsmouth this afternoon and grab a few pints. Out of the three I had, this was the only one I had had before but never on cask. This cask version had been dry-hopped with one of the noble hops, but the bartender could not remember exactly which one of the top of her head.

Pours a nice opaque black body with a creamy and dense looking tan head, which settled down to about 1 finger of thickness.

Aroma featured some of the roasted barley malt as well as some chocolate-like sweetness in addition to a nice grassy hop presence.

The cask and dry-hopping seem to work wonders on this beer. Starting with a base that consists of roasted barley and coffee-ish flavors with some dark chocolate mixed in, the dry hopping adds a tasty grassy and earthy hop flavor that I found to be quite pleasing.

Cask beers always deliver a wonderfully smooth mouthfeel and this one was no different. In particular, this was a bit chewy and full bodied too. Overall, I've always enjoyed this stout because it really is a more flavorful version of Guinness and/or Murphys, but the cask and dry hopping really take this one up a notch. Keep up the good work, Portsmouth!

hauled back from KTG day by Alex (rhinos00) and sent out to me. Thanks buddy!!

A - vigorous pour allows a pillowy head to erupt but dissipates to a thin, lacy head. Pitch black with a dark tan head. Good looking beer that fits a it's very traditional style.

S - Freshly roasted coffee beans emanate from the obvious presence of roasted barley, there is a slight nuttiness that seems reminiscent of maris otter and the unmistakable aroma of flaked barley. It's robust roasted edge puts this beer above average but is nothing out of the norm.

T - major roasted coffee notes, followed by a light nuttiness that lingers in the background. There is a unmistakable presence of flaked barley and a minerally finish, almost chalky. Again robust enough to put it above average but nothing out of the norm, chalky after taste becomes slightly distracting.

M - with out a doubt you can tell this beer is dry. it never becomes cloying or sweet, this beer has the classic irish dry down pat. there is a slight creaminess that emerges from the use of some flaked ingredient and from what seems like a high mineral content. The mouthfeel is nothing but classic, I can only imagine the stouts of back then used to go down this easy.

D - Ever so easy. Such a sessionable brew that could be an everyday drinking, pending its availability of course. Great beer from Portsmouth, I'd seek this out especially for fans of Oharas Irish stout.

The Black Cat Stout was my last remaining bomber from a recent trip to the Portsmouth area. I was sad to see it go because I enjoyed all of them so much, but I certainly wasn't sad to do the drinking! It pours into my glass pitch black with no light penetration. A thin tan head forms and leaves a nice lacing. The aroma is very nice and strong, full of a roasted malt element perfect for the style. The taste follows in this vein. A very nice roastiness comes in providing a very different bitterness than I'm used to drinking so many IPAs. There seems to be a subtle chocolate note in the background. It finishes very dry with an added kick of roasted bitterness. The mouthfeel is good, but does seem to become a bit light towards the finish. Very drinkable. This is a very good stout that exemplifies the style. There's nothing in it that tries to set it apart from its peers, it succeeds in doing this by just being a very, very solid example of the style. No gimmicks.

Pours a light black almost dark brown or a burnt brown and leaves a sticky lace on the glass. The aroma is espresso, soft cinnamon, nutmeg. The taste on the palate is some what watery which is how the mouth feel is suppose to be, more of a smooth sipping stout. The body gives you a quick taste of coffee followed by some astringent smokey hop bitterness but quickly dissapates leaving you somewhat waiting for more flavor.

Mistakenly was told this was a 'coffee' stout, but this is an Irish Dry stout and an excellent brew across the board. Wonderfully subtle notes within the milky malt body. This is highlighted by a full and rich mouthfeel, but the end is crisp, very nicely balanced.

Despite all the wonderful characteristics of this stout, I'm a bit unhappy. It's probably because I was expecting a stronger coffee presence. Still, damn fine across the board.